County organization hopes to focus problem solving

Nonprofit group wants to address community issues

CARISSA D. MIRE, Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

Published 5:30 am, Monday, March 13, 2006

A group of local residents and clergy members are looking to raise community awareness and create solutions to social problems through the newly formed, nonprofit Peace and Justice Network of Montgomery County.

The group's mission is to address issues of poverty, access to health care, youth and senior citizens' concerns and, of course, justice and peace.

"This started out as part of a peace initiative," said Steve Harr, one of the group's founders. "We want to build a culture of peace and non-violence in Montgomery County."

Though many of the group's founders, including the Rev. Don Gebert, the Rev. David Cobb and the Rev. Danita Noland, are leaders of area churches, Harr said the Peace and Justice Network is not a religious organization but rather an advocacy group.

"I know that as a group we're trying to take this from a faith perspective, but we're not a Christian organization or a religious organization, but we are trying to work through the area churches," Harr said.

He explained congregations would not be eligible to join the group as members, rather individuals would make up the membership.

Looking at issues

Harr said he became interested in starting the Peace and Justice Network when he observed many local issues were immediately becoming left or right, conservative or liberal issues, rather than being looked at objectively.

"For me, the issues have become polarized based on politics," he said. "We're not going to be a political left or right organization. We want to bring individuals with widely different views together and reach compromises."

To do this Harr said there must be open communication.

"My perspective first and foremost is to have an open table, to establish a dialogue," he said. "We might come with different ideas, but at the end of day we have to be able to talk about it."

Harr said speaking openly about issues and delving deep into the problem is something Montgomery County needs.

"A lot of things aren't really addressed above the surface in the community," he said.

Gebert, who helped to found Interfaith of The Woodlands, agreed.

"It's like what Mark Twain said about the weather," he said. "Everybody talks about it but nobody does anything about it. I've been here since the beginning (when The Woodlands was established), and as I got to talking to younger people leading churches or in the community, it's the same old thing, talking and complaining."

Growth in area

Gebert said the population boom is another reason he believes Montgomery County is ripe for the fledgling organization.

"The county is growing so fast that it's growing faster than the social infrastructure that's designed to serve it," he said. "That's something that really scares me."

But before the group can move forward in its mission, people have to be recruited.

In addition to a recent open house the group hosted in early March, Harr and other founding members of the group are planning to hold Peace and Justice Week May 7-13, the organization's coming-out party, so to speak.

"Every day (for seven days) some activity is going to be going on," he said. "There will be workshops and seminars to give people a chance to find out about different issues, for example, domestic violence. We will bring in experts from different areas."

He continued.

"That will be a big launch for us," Harr said. "We hope to get people to partner with us and say they want to participate."

In addition to Peace and Justice Week, Harr said he and other group members hope to establish ongoing community forums.

"We want to hold town meetings on a quarterly basis regarding specific issues," he said. "The first one may be on poverty or health care where we'd bring in experts from that industry."

Discussion topics

He said concerns for teens such as pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease and teen suicide are other possible areas the group can address, as are prescription medications and health care for senior citizens.

Focusing on teens, Harr said he and his group are also planning to sponsor an art and essay contest called Dreams of Peace for local high schoolers. He said they will submit the entries for display at Market Street's upcoming art festival, set for April, where the Peace and Justice Network of Montgomery County will have a booth.

After getting the word out about problems facing the local community, Harr said he hopes to encourage people to work to enact change.

"First we need to find out where people need help and what role we can play in helping get that message out to the community," he said. "I think the organization is to empower citizens in this community who want to make a difference. We're forming groups to deal with specific areas so if somebody comes to us and is interested in peace and justice, we want to give people a chance to step in and say, 'I'd like to work in this area.' "

Gebert said his goal is to recruit members to form task forces to research various needs in the community and then put their muscle to work.

"We want to see what the gaps are (in social services) and then see what we can do to bring resources together to fill those gaps," he said. "There is a lot of funding available (to people in need), but you've got to find out where it is, how to get it and where to apply. If we can pinpoint the best ways to help people, we can help Montgomery County."

Gebert said he also wants to see more community volunteerism as a result of the Peace and Justice Network.

"I know there's always more roles for volunteers so we've got to get people to serve in those roles," he said.